The Age of Struggle (2)
Seina felt her face flush.
The paladin of the Oracle Administration Bureau bore one of the Rami Church's most sacred charges in her heart.
For someone like that to be swayed by mere human feeling and yield to evil, Seina could not bring herself to look at Shirone.
"I have no right to reproach you."
If not for Shirone's purification, she would have driven a blade into her own throat.
"Prepare to leave." Seina ordered the holy knights, then turned back to Shirone with a stung expression.
"You've put us in your debt. But this isn't the whole Rami Church. The highest paladin of the Holy See—"
"That doesn't matter."
Shirone cut her off.
"Siok is beguiling people. This is something the Rami Church cannot ignore."
It was the most human kind of evil.
"We'll go to the Holy See. We'll report what happened and receive a new oracle."
Seina looked over Ravika's body, her bones twisted in death.
'What a pity. If she'd lived she could have testified. We should at least bring any other survivors.'
She turned her gaze, but not a single knight moved toward the survivors.
'Fools.'
Seina was angry at people who judged only by immediate results, but today was the day she had to accept defeat.
"Leave the townsfolk." Seina mounted her horse.
"That doesn't mean I accept you. Before long an inquisitor from the Heresy Division will come looking for you. Mind yourself."
The most secretive department within the Rami Church.
And the most dangerous.
If the Oracle Administration Bureau moved by faith, the Heresy Division moved by hatred.
In some sense, simply mentioning such a department was an act of mercy.
"Let's go."
Shirone didn't look away until Seina and the holy knights had left the village.
We fight evil, but our convictions differ. The more Shirone's universal love spread, the more it would collide with others'.
Nade asked, "Shirone, what about the survivors? We can't take them all with us."
Shirone checked Iruki's condition.
She wasn't bleeding anymore, but the aftereffects of using Overdrive hadn't worn off.
"Tonight we'll camp at the foot of the mountain. I told Mr. Rampa; he'll find a town they can survive in."
Iruki wiped the blood from her face and thought.
'Arnold Rampa. If he's the ivory tower's top information mage, he can find one. More importantly…'
What mattered was that the survivors who'd witnessed Shirone's miracle would spread word through the city.
'If we sow seeds like this, they'll bear fruit someday. Maybe…'
She felt the direct clash with the Rami Church might come far sooner than expected.
Gaspa, a southern city of Tormia. From the capital Bashka, demons had radiated outward and pushed relentlessly south.
The castle's swift response had prevented total annihilation, but the aftermath of Emotion Sickness was worse.
The streets overflowed with vagrants who'd abandoned their homes; law and order had collapsed and crime ran rampant.
"This is serious."
In the eyes of those who had destroyed what they cherished, there was something beyond malice—murderous intent.
Shirone said, "The World Health Organization compiled cases and set behavioral guidelines for Emotion Sickness. They broke it into seventeen categories, placing life-critical items later to control the sickness's threshold."
"The Cross family got them too. I didn't see them myself. If you follow the guidelines exactly, how long can you hold out?"
"At most two months. The goal is to find a cure within that time, but there's been no breakthrough."
Shirone's gaze fell on a vagrant.
"The guideline about abandoning one's residence is category eight. That's supposed to apply after at least four weeks, but people are already fleeing their homes."
"Well, there's no rule that satisfies everyone," Amy said.
Kaiden, who hadn't left his home in a long time, felt strangely moved by seeing the world.
'Everyone bears the same pain. Compared to them, my troubles might be trivial…'
Shirone asked, "Kaiden, how did you deal with it—Emotion Sickness?"
"No different from others. My father endured by giving up one thing after another. The family home, our assets, distant relatives… The Cross family fell so low they couldn't recover."
Kaiden looked away.
"But my case is a little different. The fate of the Cross Star draws out a hundred percent of every talent except what I truly want. As long as I don't give up Maya, Emotion Sickness isn't a problem."
Amy asked incredulously, "You don't become hypersensitive?"
"No. I don't know why exactly. If Emotion Sickness is a disease, I've hardly ever been sick."
Shirone asked, "'Hardly' meaning… there were times?"
"Once when I was very young. I heard Granny's story about being overworked and got scared. I prayed not to fall ill, and the very next day I caught a cold."
What you truly want rarely comes true.
"I was sick for about a year after that. I wanted to get better. Granny apologized through tears, but it was useless."
Kaiden shrugged.
"Of course I grew up hearing about the fate of the Cross Star. If I'd thought being sick was acceptable, maybe being ill would've been better, but—"
Shirone understood.
"You can't change the heart easily."
"Exactly. Especially when you're young. Still, it wasn't fatal. I trained relentlessly in swordsmanship and got healthy. Gradually my heart grew stronger."
Shirone anew realized how cruel the fate of the Cross Star was.
'If you experienced such grotesque things your whole life, you'd be terrified of wanting anything desperately.'
Amy asked, "And now? Isn't it a good thing that you can overcome Emotion Sickness because you love Maya?"
"Let me be clear."
Kaiden's eyes hardened.
"If I could escape this cursed fate even for an instant—if I could do what I want even once—I don't care if it's Emotion Sickness or anything else. I'd die happy."
No one could define Kaiden's life for him.
"If you desperately want to sleep, you can't. If you desperately want to eat, you don't feel hunger. You have to train not to obsess. Do you understand? It means I've never once done what I wanted since I was born."
Shirone's eyes narrowed.
'I see. Emotion scale.'
Kaiden's emotional gauge was twisted so nothing could take precedence.
'Maybe it isn't only an immune-system issue.'
Kaiden asked, "But why is Maya here? She's a big-name singer, right? I heard she signed with a Valkyrie. How did she end up like this?"
"Emotion Sickness." Shirone's face darkened.
"Everyone gives up many things they once held dear. But the things that are truly precious are the hardest to let go."
Amy asked, "For Maya that must be singing, right?"
"Yes. I hear she terminated her contract with the agency. They wanted to detain her, but that would also become a metric of emotion and rebound on her. It must have been an impossible choice."
"Even so…"
They turned off the main road into a dingy alley; Kaiden frowned.
"Of all places, why here?"
"I only had the intel. I never met Maya in person. Maybe she's partitioned her emotions so finely she can no longer sing unless it's this bad."
At the end of the alley was a tavern with a red sign and a woman's underwear painted on it.
From the narrow stairway down to the basement came the sound of a cheap, reedy instrument and a voice.
"Maya??????"
The moment Kaiden heard it, he knew it was her.
"Customers?" a man squatting by the entrance with a cigarette glanced at them.
Shirone didn't answer, so the man flicked his cigarette and stood.
"Table fee's five gold. Drinks separate. No getting on the stage or throwing things."
Saying the obvious as if it were special irritated Amy.
"So the other stuff's allowed? And five gold—do you even know how much that is?"
The man, annoyed, scratched his ear.
"You came knowing, didn't you? That Maya's here. The best singer in Tormia."
Shirone handed over the coins.
"She's in there."
After checking the money, the man squatted by the entrance again and lit a fresh cigarette.
"Go on in. I'll warn you—she's not much fun up close."
A warning after taking the money.
"Kaiden, go in."
Shirone planned to stay outside.
"Alone?"
"Yes. Me going in might upset Maya even more."
Kaiden looked up at the sign, took a deep breath, and nodded.
"All right."
With each step down the stairs the drumbeat grew louder and his heart hammered faster.
As he rounded into the basement, acrid cigarette smoke hit him; apart from the stage, the room was dim.
Maya was humming along to the blues.
Under cheap lights she still moved beautifully, but—
Why, why? Her outfit felt utterly cold amid the men's heated breaths.
Kaiden scanned the customers.
Men with dead eyes spouting crude jokes and behaving lecherously.
Maya kept singing.
Her face, staring into the air above the table, showed no emotion.
"Enough——!"
Kaiden, clenching his fists and grinding his teeth, finally lost control and shouted.
"Cut it out!" The musicians stopped; for the first time, an emotion flitted across Maya's eyes.
Who is that? Is he drunk? It was too dark to see faces. The drunk patrons around them stirred to their feet.
"You—what the hell? We were just getting warmed up and now you—"
A drunk shoved Kaiden's chest. Kaiden pushed past and strode toward the stage.
"Uh..."
Maya's eyes widened.
"Kaiden?"
She hurriedly slipped the coat she'd thrown to the floor back on and avoided his gaze.
"You—how did you find me here…?"
"Maya."
Countless words Kaiden wanted to tell her flashed through his head.
What should I say?
His sincerest feelings, however, would only turn tragic against the fate of the Cross Star.
"Outside…"
Kaiden choked out, voice trembling.
"Shirone's outside. Come with us. We'll protect you."
"Shirone?"
For a moment she froze; then her face went deathly pale.
"Shirone—"
Her gaze jittering with fear, she fled hurriedly toward the back of the stage.
"Maya! Wait, Maya!"
Just as Kaiden moved to chase, a drunk grabbed his shoulder.
"You brat! Stirring up trouble and running off? Ugh!"
With blistering speed Kaiden spun and threw a punch; the drunk's body flew and spun through the air.
As he fell, the suddenly sober patrons hesitated and edged back.
He could hit that drunk because there was someone he wanted to strike even more desperately.
"Shirone!"
Kaiden sprinted up the stairs and thrust his sword toward Shirone.
He swung with the force of a greatsword, but still he couldn't pierce Shirone.
"Ugh!"
Strength drained from him; he felt as if he'd forgotten how to hold his blade.
"Don't get worked up."
Kaiden, struggling, twisted his neck and glared at Shirone from the side.
"Answer me. You said… you can cure Emotion Sickness, right?"
"It's only temporary," Shirone replied.
"Answer me!"
"...Yes."
"Then why didn't you cure Maya? Why did you leave her like that?"
"That's why I brought you here."
Kaiden stared, baffled, as Shirone's gaze chilled.